It was generally found in conventional hand-held scanners that the user's view of the string of characters surrounding the character being scanned is at least partially obstructed. As such, it can be difficult for users to aim a hand-held device. Numerous art scanners provide an optical window or LCD panel to view the material directly under the scanner. However, the user must then look at the window and the characters on the page at the same time to properly aim the scanner across the line of characters. Other scanners have been known to provide no viewing capability of the characters beneath the scanner at all.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,800,444 (Suzuki et al.) discloses the use of the scanner with an optical window on the side of the device that faces the user. The user is required to aim the device, held sideways, along the character string while simultaneously viewing the material under the device in the optical window. U.S. Pat. No. 5,012,349 (deFay) discloses a scanner with an LCD panel fitted into the handle. This device must be preset for narrow character heights and rolled sideways directly over the character string. U.S. Pat. No. 3,541,248 (Young) discloses the use of a magnifying member on the scanner. Here, not only must the user view two areas including the window and the character string on a paper, but also the user will experience distortion of the optically viewed materials. U.S. Pat. No. 4,947,261 (Ishikawa et al.) discloses a scanner that should be held vertically over the characters in order to read them into the scanner. No assistance is provided for viewing the material beneath the scanner. The scanner may be equipped with interchangeable lenses having different focal lengths for achieving various magnifications. U.S. Pat. No. 5,083,218 (Takasu et al.) discloses another scanner that is held vertically over the characters to be scanned.